Stuart Elliott was born and brought up in Cheadle, living for the first ten years of his life in a former tied cottage on the Watts Abney Hall estate. He attended Cheadle Primary School from 1943 to 1950 before attending Cheadle Hulme School. He then studied History at the University of Wales, graduating with an Honours degree in Abou. Subsequently, he obtained an M.A. in Economic History at the University of Nottingham in 1966, his thesis drawing on previously unexplored original source materials. The outcome of his research was subsequently published in historical journals. Most of his teaching career was spent lecturing on English and European Economic and Social History in further and higher education colleges. He left teaching in 1974 for a career in educational administration, becoming eventually the Deputy Director of a large Merseyside education authority. However, he has never lost interest in his subject, which has been invigorated by the writing of this work
